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Intelligence and National Security Policy in a Changing World

The two-day conference on ‘Intelligence and National Security Policy in a Changing World’ is the centre-piece of the ISI Programme. It comprises a series of keynote sessions, panels and interactive conversations featuring some of the leading figures in the worlds of intelligence, academia and industry. The focus of the conference is the changing shape of intelligence and national security in the 21st century. The previous year has heralded some of the greatest changes and biggest challenges since the end of the Cold War. To untangle some of these issues speakers will address such diffuse topics as ‘Security implications in the post-Brexit and Trump administration world; the implications of technology and automation for society and security; the legacy of the Arab Spring; and emerging conflict zones'. Attendees will hear from former intelligence chiefs, leading academics and those from the worlds of business, the military and statecraft.

You can view the Conference brochure here. The Conference schedule is built around a series of panel discussions running from 9am to 5pm on both days. The Conference will include a dinner for all participants in Peterhouse Dining Hall on Friday, 28th July.

The following Conference Speakers are confirmed; others to follow

Sir Richard Dearlove served as Chief (known as ‘C’) of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS) from August 1999 until his retirement in July 2004. For the preceding five years he was Director of Operations and, from 1998, Assistant Chief. Sir Richard is a career intelligence officer of thirty-eight years standing and has served in Nairobi, Prague, Paris, Geneva and Washington as well as in a number of key London-based posts. Between 2004 and 2015 Sir Richard was Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge and currently Chairs the Trustees of the University of London.

Professor Lord Peter Hennessy is Attlee Professor of Contemporary History at Queen Mary, University of London and a Fellow of the British Academy. He spent his early career as political correspondent for the Times newspaper as a leader writer and Whitehall Correspondent, the Financial Times as its Westminster correspondent and the Economist. An active member of the House of Lords, Lord Hennessy is widely acknowledged as the pre-eminent interpreter of the British constitution, cabinet government and the intelligence communities. His many previous books include Cabinet (1986), Whitehall (1989), Never Again: Britain 1945-51 (1992), The Hidden Wiring: Unearthing the British Constitution (1995), The Prime Minister: The Office and Its Holders since 1945 (2000), The Secret State: Whitehall and the Cold War (2002), and Having it So Good: Britain In The Fifties (2006). His most recent book is Distilling The Frenzy: Writing The History Of One’s Own Times (2012).

Professor Sir David Omand, GCB After a distinguished government career in defence, security and intelligence, David Omand is now one of the leading figures in shaping public debate on national security. He was the first appointee, in 2002, to the re-vamped post of UK Security and Intelligence Coordinator, responsible for the UK's national counter-terrorism strategy and 'homeland security'. He spent much of his earlier career in the Ministry of Defence, including as Director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), Deputy Secretary for Policy, Under Secretary in charge of the defence programme, and Principal Private Secretary to the Secretary of State. He also served for three years in Brussels as Defence Counsellor to NATO and for seven years on the UK'sJoint Intelligence Committee. Sir David was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge and is currently Visiting Professor at the War Studies Department, King's College, London.

Daniel O’Brienserved over thirty years in the US and Allied intelligence community. His last assignment before his retirement from government service was as the Chief of the Defense Intelligence Liaison Office, London from May 2013 to August 2016. Mr. O’Brien served as a special advisor to General Stanley McChrystal, Commander of International Security Assistance Forces, Afghanistan (ISAF) and General David Petraeus, Commander Multi-National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) during multiple combat tours of duty, primarily responsible for coordinating and integrating US and Allied defense intelligence operational support activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has served in numerous senior advisory roles and a variety of analytical and operational support leadership positions on critical defense intelligence and policy issues regarding global counter-terrorism, China, the Korean Peninsula, East Asia, and global military forces.

Angus Knowles-Cutler is Vice Chairman of Deloitte and London office managing partner. He leads the firm's work on the impact of technology on the workplace and is an adviser to the UK government and major businesses on the subject. He has a particular interest in how national governments are reacting in a range of ways to the major opportunities and significant risks presented and how automation might be fuelling both nationalism and globalisation at the same time. Angus read history at Cambridge University.

David Ludlow is a former diplomat and banker. His diplomatic career was centred on Russia (including a posting in Moscow) and Central & Eastern Europe, including working extensively on conflict resolution in the former Yugoslavia. Following his diplomatic career, David spent 20 years in international finance, based in London and Dubai, focused on the emerging markets of Europe, Middle East and Africa. He is now working on a book on current issues in British foreign policy.

Dr Peter Martland is a specialist in intelligence and security studies. He is the author of six books and has contributed to many more, latterly in the field of intelligence and security history. He was part of Professor Christopher Andrew’s research team which produced the authorised history of MI5 Defence of the Realm (2009). He edits the Boydell and Brewer intelligence and security series. He has supervised generations of Cambridge undergraduate and graduate students and taught history, intelligence and security-related courses at Pembroke College, International Programmes Department. He was for many years a co-sponsor and organiser of the Cambridge Intelligence Seminar.

Professor Michael S. Goodman is Professor of ‘Intelligence and International Affairs’ in the Department of War Studies, King's College London and Visiting Professor at the Norwegian Defence Intelligence School. He has published widely in the field of intelligence history, including most recently The Official History of the Joint Intelligence Committee, Volume I: From the Approach of the Second World War to the Suez Crisis (Routledge, 2015), which was chosen as one of The Spectator’s books of the year. He is series editor for ‘Intelligence and Security’ for Hurst/Columbia University Press; and for ‘Intelligence, Surveillance and Secret Warfare’ for Edinburgh University Press; and is a member of the editorial boards for five journals. He is currently on secondment to the Cabinet Office where he is the Official Historian of the Joint Intelligence Committee.

Dr Dave Gioe is Assistant Professor of History at the United States Military Academy at West Point. He also serves as the History Fellow for the Army Cyber Institute. Dr Gioe spent over 15 years working in the US intelligence community, beginning with appointment in 2001 as a Presidential Management Fellow in the FBI National Security Division. He then served in the CIA Counterterrorist Center (CTC) before earning field certification as an Operations Officer. Dr Gioe served multiple overseas tours as a case officer before leaving CIA to pursue his doctorate at eh University of Cambridge. He retains his commission as a Naval Reserve Intelligence Officer with service in the Office of Naval Intelligence and assignments in Africa, Europe, and the Far East.

Frederic Ischebeck-Baum is a Teaching Fellow and Assistant Director in the Centre for Defence Studies at King's College, London. Among other projects, Frederic is currently involved in defence consultancy in the Middle East. Frederic holds Master’s degrees in International Law from Frankfurt University, in Terrorism Studies from the University of Saint Andrews, and in War Studies from King’s College London. He is a Visiting Lecturer at Cambridge University, and at the German Federal University and has been a Visiting Fellow to the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI) in London, and to the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) in Tel Aviv. Frederic has a military background, having served as Military Adviser with a NATO mission and worked for UNODC in Eastern Africa including Somalia. He has lectured to and given evidence at a wide range of key political institutions, including those within the British and German Governments, NATO School and the US Defence Intelligence Agency.

Dr Renad Mansour is an Academy Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House, London. Renad's research at Chatham House explores the situation of Iraq in transition and the dilemmas posed by state-building. Prior to joining Chatham House, Renad was an El-Erian fellow at the Carnegie Middle East Centre, where he examined Iraq, Iran and Kurdish affairs. Renad is also a research fellow at the Cambridge Security Initiative based at Cambridge University and from 2013, he held positions as lecturer of International Studies and supervisor at the faculty of politics, also at Cambridge University. Renad has been a senior research fellow at the Iraq Institute for Strategic Studies in Beirut since 2011 and was adviser to the Kurdistan Regional Government Civil Society Ministry between 2008 and 2010. He received his PhD from Pembroke College, Cambridge.

Dr Dina Rezk is a lecturer in Middle Eastern History at the University of Reading. She received her Ph.D from Cambridge University in 2013 and subsequently spent two years at the Politics Department in Warwick University as a Teaching Fellow in Intelligence and Security. Her doctorate examined how the Anglo-American 'official mind' conceptualised the Arab World by deconstructing diplomatic and intelligence assessments produced throughout two decades of crises. It traced the revolutions that swept across Iraq, Syria and Yemen, three devastating Arab-Israeli wars and moves towards an uneasy peace between Egypt and Israel in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Dina's current research has focuses on the latest upheavals of the 'Arab Spring' across the Middle East work that has found a receptive audience in the policy world and she has briefed the Cabinet Office, Home Office, the Ministry of Defence, NATO and the US Department of Defense on her findings.